One pleasure I get as an editor is the ability to work on subsequent editions of an author’s book and see the author grow book by book. By “grow,” I mean the author’s writing style — communication with the reader — improves. This pleasure is rather limited in my editorial business because of the types of books I edit.

However, that same pleasure occasionally occurs in the fiction I read. Some authors improve subtly, some more dramatically, some maintain an even keel at a high level. Good examples of the latter are Vicki Tyley and Shayne Parkinson; in both cases, the writing has kept an even keel. In Tyley’s case, it is harder to discern changes because her books are not a series that revolves around a continuing group of characters; each book is a fully standalone novel — different characters, different plot twists and turns, different venues. (For a review of Tyley’s books, see On Books: Murder Down Under; for a review of Parkinson’s books, see On Books: The Promises to Keep Quartet.)

And now I can add L.J. Sellers to this “elite” group of indie authors who deliver a 5-star experience from the get-go, except that, in her books, one can see the improvement in writing style as one reads her Detective Jackson Series in order. The books in the series are, in order:

The Sex Club

Secrets to Die For

Thrilled to Death

Passions of the Dead

Dying for Justice

The first book introduces us to the Eugene, Oregon, violent crime detective squad, with Wade Jackson as the lead character. Jackson is the choice for lead detective when the case seems particularly difficult to solve. He has the solution knack! Jackson, along with the other members of the squad, are the vehicles through which we can watch Sellers’ writing improve with each book. As Jackson grows, so grows Sellers’ communication with her readers.

Sellers humanizes her characters by giving them the attributes of everyday, ordinary people. No superheros, no supercops, no powers of deduction and reasoning that evade otherwise mere mortals and separate mortal from demigod. Jackson, for example, is in the process of divorcing an alcoholic wife and suffering from an illness that he thinks is just too much acid from too many cups of coffee, while trying to protect his teenage daughter from her mother’s alcohol addiction as well as from the usual travails of being a teenager. Lara Evans is the only female on the squad and she is having trouble finding the right soul mate, but has her eye on Jackson. Sophie Speranza is a reporter whose personal life swings between ups and downs but who is tenacious in striving not only for the story but to help Jackson. Lammers is the head honcho, who has promotion ambitions and the presence of a bull, but yet moments of kindness and understanding, as well as insight that comes from experience in a leadership role. And so it goes with each of the core crew of the series.

Let’s get something out of the way now: Even though each book is an improvement over the previous book in terms of writing and drawing the reader into the community, each book in the Detective Jackson Series is a 5-star book. (For more on my rating system, see On Books: Indie eBooks Worth Reading (I).) Also worth noting is that the novels remind me of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct Series. If you like Ed McBain, you will like these books. Although you can read the books in any order, they really do build one on the other and so I suggest reading them in order.

The biggest complaint I have about L.J. Sellers’ Detective Jackson Series is that the author has not made the books available on Smashwords, only at the link provided and at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Finding good indie author books to read is difficult enough; finding ones that are 5-star reads is wearying. But when we find them, we need to support those authors by buying their books because 5-star indie authors are a rare treasure in the ebook age of self-publishing. Sellers’ Detective Jackson Series joins that exalted crowd — the mysteries are different, the plot twists are unusual, the characters are believable, the community semifictional in the sense that her Eugene, Oregon, could as easily be my or your hometown. Sellers has made it easy for the reader to become another partner in the violent-felony squad that Jackson leads. Jackson’s humanness is refreshing and his solving of a crime doesn’t rest on some obscure Holmesian fact — rather, how he solves the cases seems to be how real police solve real cases.

I think that Sellers intends to rise above the ordinary mystery by making her characters our next-door neighbors. Perhaps a bit more conservative than some of us, but not radical in any way; simply a part of our neighborhood. In this endeavor, she succeeds, increasingly so with each book in the series. The Detective Jackson Series joins my hall of fame for 2011; I eagerly await the next book in the series. Now, if she would only make her books more easily accessible to all readers. The lack of easy universal availability is an unnecessary drag on her books.

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Great review. I’ve read 4 out of the 5 books in the series and loved them all! I enjoy seeing the development of Wade Jackson and Lara Evans and the other characters. Still waiting for those two to get together! Sellers has a kind of understated, very realistic style, her characters are fully developed and the dialogue is very realistic. But the best part is the building intrigue in the plot, and she never fails to surprise and delight me with her unexpected twists at the end! Just when I think I’ve got it all figured out, LJ veers in another direction–and it all makes sense! I end up saying, Huh? Why didn’t I think of that?
I’m planning on reading the only one in the series I haven’t read very soon–then maybe I’ll try her two stand-alones. Has anyone read either of them? One’s The Baby Thief and I forget the name of the other one.

I downloaded the first and, five days later, had downloaded and read all five. I love the character of Jackson. He is just a regular guy, with problems and he deals with everything on his plate as best he can, unlike some other detectives who jump to unwarranted conclusions based on the evidence available. I think the next Jackson is coming out next year. I shall have to force myself to read it s l o w l y, although I must confess, I’ve re-read all five again less than two months after reading them the first time.

Thanks for the terrific review and thanks Jodie and Avril for your support. My ebooks are available everywhere (Sony, Kobo, Nook, Kindle, iPad,
Apple, etc.)…except at Smashwords. I haven’t done it yet because readers complain about the formatting Smashwords applies and I want to offer readers a consistent, professional product. But I’m thinking of uploading there anyway because enough readers want me too.
L.J.

I buy most of my ebooks at Smashwords and have rarely found formatting to be a problem. However, some people have specific likes and dislikes when it comes to formatting (e.g., blank line between paragraphs, white margins, no blank line, no margins, justified, nonjustified, etc.) that it is impossible to please everyone and it is also impossible to know what the complaint about formatting really is about.

Thank you for the reviews and points on the growth of the writers you work with. Have you read http://jjhohn.com/ new book A Crime to Be Rich? It’s his first work of fiction derived from his work as a financial advisor. I was equally impressed with his writing and character building as I was with creating a suspenseful and enticing mystery from it all. A great Summer read.

[…] worth reading and buying include Rebecca Forster, Shayne Parkinson, Vicki Tyley, Michael Hicks, and L.J. Sellers. But finding these worthwhile authors is the difficult part, and ebooks have made the finding more […]

[…] know that I praise the writing of some indie authors, such as Vicki Tyley, Shayne Parkinson, and L.J. Sellers. I would not hesitate to buy one of their books at $4.99, let alone at the $2.99 that they charge, […]